Sausage and chestnut stuffing

Delicious savoury stuffing, although I always cook it on the side and never stuffed into anything. Eat it with a lovely roast chicken, a turkey or just on its own with a pile of roast potatoes and gravy.

• 350g sausage meat (or just plain sausages squeezed out of their skins. Don’t look at the skins afterwards, they’re a bit weird)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 stick celery, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 pouch (180g) cooked whole chestnuts, chopped into small pieces
• 2 eating apples, peeled and cored
• 40g fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 egg, beaten
• Large handful of fresh herbs – soft ones like sage, chives, thyme, parsley – chopped finely
• Salt and pepper

1. Heat the oil in a small pan and cook the onion, celery and garlic over a low heat until completely soft
2. While it’s cooking, dice the apple finely
3. Add the apple to the pan and cook for a couple of mins
4. Take off heat and cool
5. In large bowl combine the cooked onion, celery and apple with sausage meat, chestnuts, herbs, egg, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper
6. Pre-heat oven to 180C fan (200C)
7. Either put the stuffing into a shallow dish and fork the top to give it peaks, then bake for 30 mins or form into walnut-size balls and bake on a baking tray or around the roast for 15 mins